JPL Blog

When Super Typhoon Haiyan, one of the most powerful storms ever recorded on Earth, struck the Philippines Nov. 8, 2013, it tore a wide swath of destruction across large parts of the island nation. Image Credit: ASI/NASA/JPL-Caltech Over on My Big Fat Planet, Carmen Boening, a scientist in the Climate Physics Group at NASA’s Jet […]

By Julie Cooper Each month in “Slice of History” we feature a historical photo from the JPL Archives. See more historical photos and explore the JPL Archives at https://beacon.jpl.nasa.gov/. Ranger Impact Limiter — Photograph number 292-41A This photo was taken in November 1960 to show the lightweight balsa wood impact limiter that was to be […]

By Marc Rayman As NASA’s Dawn spacecraft makes its journey to its second target, the dwarf planet Ceres, Marc Rayman, Dawn’s chief engineer, shares a monthly update on the mission’s progress. In this graphic of Dawn’s interplanetary trajectory, the thin solid lines represent the orbits of Earth, Mars, Vesta and Ceres. After leaving Vesta, Dawn’s […]

By Julie Cooper Each month in “Slice of History” we feature a historical photo from the JPL Archives. See more historical photos and explore the JPL Archives at https://beacon.jpl.nasa.gov/. Mariner 4 Television Experiment Team — Photograph number P-5005B Because the data return rate from Mariner 4 was very low, the Mariner 4 Television Experiment Team […]

Mission team members for NASA’s Mariner 4 spacecraft, incredibly anxious to see the first up-close photograph of Mars, devised a way to see the image before it made its way to Earth by color-coding binary code on strips of ticker tape. The resulting collage became known as “the first image of Mars.” Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech […]

By Julie Cooper Each month in “Slice of History” we feature a historical photo from the JPL Archives. See more historical photos and explore the JPL Archives at https://beacon.jpl.nasa.gov/. Hadamard Matrix — Photograph Number 331-3717Ac In 1961, mathematicians from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Caltech worked together to construct a Hadamard Matrix containing 92 rows […]

By Julie Cooper Each month in “Slice of History” we feature a historical photo from the JPL Archives. See more historical photos and explore the JPL Archives at https://beacon.jpl.nasa.gov/. Seasat Sensors — Photograph Number 271-365Acc The Seasat project was a feasibility demonstration of the use of orbital remote sensing for global observation. It was launched […]